“I am the law now,” he says. “And while I know you disagree, I believe disbanding the Authority is what’s best for all the Mods fighting in the Uprising. They deserve one leader who’s looking out for their best interests. One vision to guide them.” Kallister shakes his head in annoyance. “Adrienne was pushing a vision on our people that they didn’t want. I wish you’d recognize that.”
“Maybe,” I say, venom spitting from my tone, “but killing her wasn’t the solution, you fucking asshole.”
He sighs. “We could sit here and antagonize each other, if you’d like. But that’s not why I—”
“Drugged me?” I supply bitterly.
“—wanted to speak to you alone,” he finishes. “Away from the prying eyes at the Dagger. I’d like for us to try to understand each other.”
I can’t stop a harsh laugh. “You want me to understand you? Well, I understand that you tried to create some kind of bond between us by pretending you had a bond with Jim. A bond that never existed. I heard the way you spoke about him in the Temple this morning. You hated him.”
“Hate? No. That’s too strong a word. He was my twin brother. Hating him would be like hating myself. He disappointed me. Disgusted me at times. But never hate. Your mother, on the other hand…Marina, I can say I hated. I told Julian she would drag him down, that she would destroy everything around her. But he didn’t listen. He chose her over his own blood, over the network, and I never forgave him for it.”
“You were jealous of her,” I accuse. “Of the connection they had.”
I’m surprised when he doesn’t deny it.
“Yes. I was jealous of her. Sometimes.” His eyes drift back to the dark sky.
“Where are we going?” I ask, my frustration spilling over.
He doesn’t answer, which only triggers another burst of anger. Kallister is more like Travis Redden than he thinks. Driven by his own self-interests. I don’t know why I didn’t see that until now. He used Hawkins to corrupt Primes in the wards, for fuck’s sake. If he’s willing to destroy the minds of children, what else is he willing to do?
All I know is, even setting aside that hefuckingdrugged me,there’s no way I can trust him again.
I inhale a slow, steadying breath. “Take me back to the Dagger, Kallister. Please.”
He turns, studying me with those brown eyes, so much like Uncle Jim’s and yet not at all similar. I think about all those evenings we spent in his quarters. Me on the sofa, Kallister on the armchair, quietly sharing the same space as I pored over my mother’s file. The file he so freely offered, as if he were doing me a beautiful favor. Now I suspect he was just trying to keep me close.
“We’re here,” is his response.
With a loud hum, the craft begins a fast descent. There aren’t any windows back here, and I can’t see much through the windshield other than darkness. My gaze darts around the cabin in search of anything I can use as a weapon, anything that could help me escape. Nothing.
The hovercraft lands with a soft thud. The hum of the engine dies off and then goes entirely silent.
Kallister hops out and walks around to slide open the cabin door. Rough hands pull me out. I resist, but I still feel loopy from the drug. It takes a moment for my body to remember how to remain upright. By then, his gun is trained firmly on the center of my chest.
I smell salt. Wet stone. A cold gust of wind hits me in the face.
“Is this Valterra Ridge?” I ask in confusion.
“Seemed fitting.”
I still can’t use telepathy, and the frustration of that squeezes tight around my throat. “Why aren’t my powers working?”
Kallister reaches under his body armor and pulls out a silver chain. A long white pendant dangles from it, gnarled like an icicle.
White daggerstone.
Fuck.
As long as he stays in my vicinity, my Mod abilities aren’t going to work. On the mountain, I couldn’t use telepathy until Hawkins and I were well out of the cave’s distance.
I look around us, taking a ragged breath. The desolate cliffs stretch out, the sheer wall covered in blue daggerstone, but it seems like the white is more powerful, because even though this daggerstone is supposed to amplify, it’s doing absolutely nothing for me right now.
Kallister shoves me forward, and I stagger. My legs are too wobbly. That tranquilizer really did a number on me.
“Keep walking.” He motions with the barrel of the gun. “Stop. That’s far enough.”
